In her eagerness to show support for the arts, Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell is literally putting her face on the line.

This Friday, Campbell will pose for a portrait by Cleveland artist Shirley Aley Campbell (no relation) at the Beck Center for the Arts, Lakewood. The artistic outcome of "Campbell by Campbell" will be auctioned immediately after the session.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Arts community convenes to discuss its own agenda<P>Carolyn Jack, Cleveland Plain Dealer<P>The Cleveland arts community finally got asked to the dance. <P>Joined by Mayor Jane Campbell, about 600 or more artists, cultural leaders, business people and others thronged the corridors of City Hall yesterday for the first-ever Arts Summit, a five-hour brainstorming session hosted by Cleveland City Council.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://www.cleveland.com/artsandevents/plaindealer/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/entertainment/1021541539248440.xml target=_blank>More</a>

Amazing:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Hail to city for summit on culture<P>Steven Litt, Cleveland Plain Dealer<BR> <BR>Anyone who lived through the culture wars of the late 1980s and early 1990s would have been amazed by the summit conference on the arts at Cleveland City Hall Wednesday.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://www.cleveland.com/artsandevents/plaindealer/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/entertainment/102162790517590.xml target=_blank>More</a>

A study released yesterday by the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture finds that Cuyahoga County's arts and cultural community lost 163 jobs in the last year and cut 23 programs, 11 of which, or 47 percent, were educational. <a href=http://www.cleveland.com/artsandevents/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1058520844189800.xml target=_blank>more</a>

Faced with a budget short fall of more than $125,000, the board of the Jewish Community Center of Cleveland has suspended the 2003-04 season at the Halle Theatre. <a href=http://www.cleveland.com/artsandevents/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1059125682154350.xml target=_blank>more</a>

The cost of ballet tickets here is modest in comparison to prices in other cities, Yet, box-office revenues have fallen below expectations this season. Miami City Ballet filled only 25 percent of the house for its outstanding repertory program last fall. Pennsylvania Ballet drew 11,400 patrons to "The Nutcracker," a drop of 4,000 from the preceding year.

"We know that there is a market for world-class ballet in Northern Ohio," said Playhouse Square President Art Falco. "But we do not know how large it is. We are trying to grow the audience."

Art Falco and Playhouse Square knows perfectly well how large the World Class Ballet audience is in Cleveland and I am sure he has watched it dwindle in the last 5 years since the demise of CSJB. The thing about Cleveburg is that the community LOVES to support things that are native to Cleveland, they really pride themselves on it. Or atleast that was the case when I lived there. For the last 5 years the dance scene in Cleveland has been that of outside companies coming in to perform. Granted there are a few local organizations doing there thing but generally speaking, the majority of performances have been that of touring dance companies. It is no surprise at all that the audience numbers have fallen.

Public Theatre cuts budget, tries to end money-losing waysby TONY BROWN for the Cleveland Plain Dealer

Cleveland Public Theatre, the city's lead ing alternative theater in the slowly gen trifying Near West neighborhood of De troit-Shoreway, had a tough time at the box office last season.

Despite several critical and popular successes, including Cleveland Heights writer Sarah Morton's "4 Minutes to Happy," the DanceWorks Series and the annual visit to Cleveland of drag-act extraordinaire Varla Jean Merman, the company finished the season with $125,000 in new debts.

Is dance dying at Playhouse Square? Are the graceful ballerinas of "Swan Lake" gone for good? Is the resident ballet a thing of the past?

These troubling questions arise following the termination of the Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital Ballet Series and the cancellation of Ohio Ballet's winter and spring seasons at Playhouse Square. Such losses are devastating to a community that has not yet fully recovered from the demise of Cleveland San Jose Ballet six years ago.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum